Scenes – Dialog and songs from the musical
SCENE 2 SETTING. A TEENAGER’S BEDROOM – SUBURBAN CONNECTICUT, APRIL 2008
Faraway In The East is the second song in the first act. The scene and song establish MEI LI GOODSON as the protagonist and marks the beginning of her quest to find the truth about who she is and where she belongs.
Narration
Mei Li Goodson, an Asian American teenager about to graduate from high school, is loved by her adoptive parents and has had a good life with few issues or problems. That is until the night the dreams begin. A recurring dream takes her back in time to a cold night in January where she is being carried by a policeman along the Li Jiang River in Guilin, China. The dreams are the start of an identity crisis for Mei Li. She becomes obsessed with finding out more about her early life in China.
SCENE 5 SETTING. AT THE LIJIANG RIVER, GUANGXI PROVINCE, GUILIN, CHINA – EARLY MORNING
The song This Is Yo Ping marks the start of Mei Li’s journey. The song introduces the characters YO PING and THE BELLMAN.
Narration and Dialog
She wakes up the same way from her dreams, shivering in her bed from the cold, even though it is summer in Connecticut. But on one night she does not wake up shivering, but instead follows a Chinese man and woman to the banks of the Li Jiang River. She is alone on the banks of the Li Jiang River in Guilin, “the most beautiful place under heaven.”
At first Mei Li is mesmerized by the beauty of the river and the nearby karst mountains. But she is alone and knows she will need help. She sees a hotel nearby and approaches a Bellman who offers to help by providing a guide – a guide named Yo Ping.
SCENE 6 SETTING. ELEPHANT TRUNK HILL PARK, GUANGXI PROVINCE, GUILIN, CHINA – LATE MORNING THE SAME DAY
The second song in Scene 6 is Guilin performed by ZHENG HU, THE MAYOR OF GUILIN. Zheng Hu is a wiseman, a teacher and the oracle of “the most beautiful place under heaven” Guilin, Mei Li’s birth home.
Narration and Dialog
Yo Ping shows Mei Li the way to the park at Elephant Trunk Hill, a famous place she has read about many times. When Mei Li arrives at the park at Elephant Trunk Hill, Yo Ping fades into the crowd. Once again looking for help she spots a man who appears to be important. He is Zheng Hu, the Mayor of Guilin. The mayor greats Mei Li and shows her “the most beautiful place under heaven.”
Dialog following the song
The Mayor and Mei Li
ACT TWO, SCENE 2 SETTING. A VILLAGE HOME IN GUILIN, CHINA – JANUARY 18, 1990
The song Lullaby is one of three songs presented during a flashback when ZHUANG GUO explains to Mei Li the circumstances that occurred around the time of her birth. This song is part of the scene in Zhuang Guo’s village home just before he takes his infant daughter to the Institute.
Narration and Dialog
Mei Li hopes that she will find answers to questions about her past at the orphanage, but only finds out one thing – the identity of the policeman that brought her there. That policeman patrols the park and is called The Old Guard. His formal name is Zhuang Guo. Zhuang Guo is Mei Li’s Chinese father – a father she never knew – a man who is driven by his desire to turn back time, right the wrongs of the past and live a life with his daughter once again.
Mei Li only knows that a policeman brought her to the orphanage. She does not know that this policeman is her father until he reveals it. Zhuang Guo’s deceased wife, Xi’er, had told this truth to him in a dream. At first confused and angry about the revelation, Mei Li calms and listens to Zhuang Guo explain what had happened when she was born.
Narration and Dialog
A Cold Night In January is performed by the character Zhuang Guo. In the second act, Mei Li, the protagonist, has learned from Zhuang Guo that he is her Chinese father. In this scene, Zhuang Guo is telling Mei Li why he took her, his infant daughter, to the orphanage on a cold night nearly two decades past. The sound of the wind on a cold night is a recurring theme throughout the musical.
ACT TWO, SCENE 3 SETTING. THE BACK STREETS OF GUILIN – PRESENT DAY
Mei Li runs away from Zhuang Guo. Get Mei Out Of Here
Narration and Dialog
After telling her the truth, Zhuang Guo senses that Mei Li is not convinced that China is the right place for her. He starts to pressure Mei Li by suggesting she stay in China with him at his home. She suddenly imagines her American parents John and Lia and her home in Connecticut and wants to return there. She can no longer stand the confusion and runs away from Zhuang Guo.
Mei Li runs away and becomes lost and tangled in a frightening scene with surreal images of life in China versus life in America. Afraid and exhausted she runs until she no longer can.
Under attack by beggars, street vendors and criminals, she realizes that all she has in China is Zhuang Guo, her father. She screams for him and suddenly finds she is back in the park. Zhuang Guo runs to her and rescues her from all that is bad in Guilin. Now in his arms, Mei Li feels the comfort of a loving father. He convinces her to come to his home in the village. It is the house where she was born.
ACT TWO, SCENE 3 SETTING. ZHUANG GUO’S HOME IN THE VILLAGE
Once Mei Li is asleep in her bed, Zhuang Guo pleads to the heavens for help that she might stay with him forever. Stay With Mei Mei Li
ACT TWO, SCENE 6 SETTING. ELEPHANT TRUNK HILL PARK – LATER THAT DAY
Zhuang Guo and Mei Li return to the park together. They talk and laugh making up for nearly two decades of lost time. Citizens are playing Jianzi and Tourists are snapping pictures. It is a beautiful day in the park. Mei Li thinks that she just may be happy in her new home, caught up in a Whirlwind of emotion.
Narration and Dialog
The next day Mei Li wakes up content in her room in her birth home. She smells the fragrant Osmanthus blossoms outside the window. She has a Chinese breakfast with her father. They decide to go to the park where they have a wonderful day making up for time lost.
EPILOGUE
Narration and Dialog
Late in the evening and tired from the day, they return home to rest. Zhuang Guo falls asleep but Mei Li cannot because she is homesick for America. She leaves in the middle of the night after writing Zhuang Guo a note that says she is going home.
A short way from the village, Mei Li realizes she must say goodbye to her father face to face. She returns to find Zhuang Guo at the door holding the note.
Mei Li leaves again. A short distance away she sees Yo Ping. He has come to show her the way home. She wakes up in her bedroom in Connecticut. Under her pillow is a note from Zhuang Guo. By being with him in “the most beautiful place under heaven,” Mei Li discovers who she truly is and where she belongs.